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ITC Entertainment Group (UK)
Logo descriptions by Matt Williams, Supermarty-o, TrickyMario7654, and others' Logo captures by Eric S., Bob Fish, V of Doom, randomtvandmoviejunk, teamfx200, and others' Editions by mr3urious, Bob Fish, Supermarty-o, and V of Doom Video captures courtesy of Eric S., Mobilene, mcydodge919, phasicblu, JohnnyL80, and news5aksionfan661 Background The Incorporated Television Company (ITC) was a British television distribution company founded by television mogul Lew Grade in 1954 as the distribution unit of ATV ('A'ssociated 'T'ele'V'''ision), one of the ITV franchises; it later branched out into TV series and feature film production. In 1995, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment acquired ITC Entertainment Group. PolyGram was later acquired by Seagram and Sons on December 10, 1998. In January 1999, Carlton Communications acquired the ITC library. Most of the ITC library, with certain exceptions ''The Dark Crystal is held by Universal with Sony Pictures Entertainment handling video rights, and The Evil That Men Do is owned by co-distributor Tri-Star Pictures through Sony Pictures Entertainment), is now owned by ITV Studios Global Entertainment, a subsidiary of ITV plc. 1st Logo (1956-1960) Nicknames: "Early Diamonds","Horizontal Diamonds", "An ITC Release" Logo: On a black background, we see the letters "ITC" each appear in three rounded diamonds shapes horizontally. The word "AN" appears above it and "RELEASE" appears below it. Variant: On Fury, the logo appears in-credit and the word "RELEASE" is replaced with "PRODUCTION". Numerous other variants also exist, too. FX/SFX: None. Music/Sounds: None or the closing theme. Availability: Possibly extinct. Seen on early ITC shows like Ding Dong School, Fury, and Interpol Calling. Scare Factor: None, unless you hate or are scared of the ending theme of the shows that has this at the end. 2nd Logo (1956-1961?) Nicknames: "Vertical Diamonds", "An ITC Release II" Logo: On a gray background, the letters "ITC" each appear in three rounded diamond shapes vertically, connected with a line in the middle. The word "AN" appears above it and "RELEASE" appears beneath it. In other cases, it's ITC Release (1961)superimposed. FX/SFX: None. Music/Sounds: None. Availability: Extremely rare. It's mostly common on U.S. syndication prints of the first Lassie TV series, retitled Jeff's Collie (1954-1957). Some Alpha Video DVD releases might retain this logo, however. Scare Factor: Low. This logo is mostly boring, but compared to the next two logos below, it's nothing. 3rd Logo (1959-May 21, 1975) Nickname: "The Compass" Logo: On a gray background, a compass appears. It zooms up really close, and then "flips" to reveal a black diamond-like shape. A map of the world is wiped into the diamond from left to right as a white outline appears. The diamond's interior once again turns black as it zooms out as the background fades to black. When it reaches the top, a line is drawn through the middle as an "I" appears in the middle as well. Two more diamonds appear below the "I" diamond, reading "T" and "C", and appearing as the line "connects" them. The word "presents" appears below. Variants: * Sometimes, "Distribution" replaces "presents," and sometimes, there is no text under the logo. * There was a variant that has "Distributed by" above the logo. * Sometimes, all three diamonds are already there, and the letters appear inside. * In the color version of the logo, the background is red, and turns to green during the map part, the compass is silver, and the map's continents on the opening variant is blue and the closing variant is green. * Certain programs will have an in-credit logo that appears with "AN" to the left of the ITC logo and "WORLD WIDE DISTRIBUTION" either to the right such as Gerry Anderson's UFO or directly under it. * On the TV Movie Vendetta for the Saint, a print version of the next logo with the copyright year is seen. Maybe it is a logo plaster. * An in-credit variant had the words "FOR" and "WORLD WIDE DISTRIBUTION" above and below the ITC logo, respectively. This was seen on This is Tom Jones and the 1973 Sesame Street special Julie on Sesame Street, which guest-starred Julie Andrews and Perry Como. * An in-credit variant had the words "A BAMORE PRODUCTION FOR" above the ITC logo. This logo was seen on color episodes of The Saint from 1966-1969. * On Return of the Pink Panther, the logo is pink and shares a credit with Jewel Productions Ltd. and Pimlico Films Ltd. FX/SFX: The compass, the map appearing; lots of animation in this logo. Cheesy Factor: It appears kind of rough in some spots (i.e., where the letters appear). Plus, "AN ITC WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTION" sounds very jarring and unprofessional. Music/Sounds: A bombastic brass score. Composed by Jack Parnell. Availability: Extremely rare, as it hasn't been seen anywhere in ages. It might appear on some ITC shows from the period, most notably The Saint and many of Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation shows, but it was definitely plastered by the 4th logo on IVE's tapes of The Saint. It has turned up as a hidden Easter egg on the region 2 DVD release of The Persuaders! (1972-73). The in-credit logo can be seen on re-runs and DVD releases of The Prisoner and Thunderbirds, as well as at the start of the Magnetic Video, Embassy Home Entertainment and Avid Home Entertainment releases of The Tamarind Seed, the latter release where it's preceded by the 1989 logo. The logo is also preserved on all home media releases of Return of the Pink Panther, where the logo is an in-credit logo. Scare Factor: Low to high. It's not seen widely in America if all, but the music would be likely to set off some people. None for the in-credit logo. However, it got worse with the next logo... 4th Logo (1973-1989) Nicknames: "Rainbow Top", "Rainbow Diamond Top", "Spinning Diamonds of Doom" Logo: On a dark blue space background, three diamonds appear, red, green, and blue respectively, "interlocked" within each other and spinning around like a top. From the center of the screen, a white ITC logo, designed much like last time but now turned slightly upward, zooms out and quickly moves to the left side, as the word "ENTERTAINMENT" appears alongside. At the end of the logo, the ITC logo fades out to make room for the word "Presents". Trivia: The spinning diamonds on this logo are filmed in a way that, depending how you look it, you see the three diamonds spinning above you, or under you. Variants: * When introduced in 1973, the ITC logo zooms into the center of the screen after which either the word "PRESENTS", "PRODUCTION", or "DISTRIBUTION" pop up under it before the sequence fades out. It was replaced with the more familiar version by 1977. * On Space: 1999 and IVE-released volumes of The Saint, a version of the animated logo is seen at the end of the program, with "FROM" to the left of the ITC logo, and no "Presents". * On all other ITC programs of the era, a still logo appears in the show's end credits. * The second version of this logo and the still in-credit counterpart have either no byline, an ATV byline, or an ACC (Associated Communications Corporation) byline. * This was routinely plastered over the Compass logo on newer prints of older ITC series (when Sci-Fi Channel reran Space: 1999, the second version (with and without the ATV byline) and the 1989 Golden Top logo were plastered over the original 1973 ITC Presents logo on all episodes except the show's finale, "The Dorcons"). * There is an extremely rare version with the ITC logo in gold with "PRESENTS" appearing below. It is said that logo variant exists on Betamax tapes of season one of The Muppet Show. * An in-credit version exists on The Return of Swamp Thing where the ITC logo appears with "ENTERTAINMENT GROUP" under it (stacked, of course). * An in-credit version was used on older prints of The Muppet Show, which showed the ITC logo in between "FOR" and "TELEVISION". Below that are copyright dates for ITC and Henson Associates. * The logo at the beginning lacks a drum roll on the film Sweet Dreams, which recently aired on WGN America (though this is most likely just an error on their part). * The logo appears in credit on films produced by ITC Entertainment Group and the trailers for the films (such as Capricoen One). FX/SFX: The spinning diamonds, the zooming out of "ITC". Cheesy Factor: The zoom out is rough, and the diamond thing is really hard to decipher a meaning from. Music/Sounds: The same as the previous logo. Availability: Rare. The ITC library was, at the time this was first compiled, in the hands of Carlton Television, a company not known for preserving logos or even other corporate identities (it renamed two of its UK Television Stations, Central (the former "ATV") and Westcountry under the Carlton name several years ago; the names of those stations were reinstated after Carlton merged with Granada in 2003), and some shows which had the logo have been updated with the 1989 ITC logo or other company logos (for instance, The Muppet Show, originally an ITC/ATV-Jim Henson co-production, has had Henson logos plastered over the in-credit ITC logo in recent years). Most in-credit versions are usually left alone (see below for more information). The logo was recently spotted on an airing of the 1985 film Sweet Dreams on WGN America, as well as the IVE release of The Saint. In the latter case, it even plasters over the 3rd logo! This may also appear on a few tapes from Magnetic Video and its later incarnations, particularly if the tape is of a TV movie. For example, the original centered variant kicks off the Magnetic Video release of The Dancing Years. Scare Factor: Depending on the logo variant: • Original Version: Medium to nightmare. The scary music, creepy design, and the seizure-laden background make this an unsuspecting fear factor. • In-credit Variant: None. 5th Logo (1980-1987) Nickname: "Still Diamond Top" Logo: Against a colored background, we see "FROM" in a small font. Next to it is the familiar ITC logo that has been turned slightly upward, and next to that we see "ENTERTAINMENT". The byline " © I.T.C. ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED (year in Roman numerals)" is seen below. Variants: * There exists a version without a copyright date. It has a red-orange background. * Another version with the red background where the word "ENTERTAINMENT" is replaced by "PRODUCTIONS" exists. FX/SFX/Cheesy Factor: None. Music/Sounds: None. Availability: The first variant is left intact on Billionaire Boys Club, with the then-current Granada International logo following it; the "PRODUCTIONS" variant appears at the end of the 1986 Walt Disney Home Video release of The Girl Who Spelled Freedom, followed by the Walt Disney Television logo. Another variant with zooming animation can be seen at the end of the 1988 IVE release of Sunset Limousine. Scare Factor: None. This is a boring logo. Compared to the previous logos of the company, though, it's very tame. 6th Logo (February 7, 1988-February 9, 1988) Nickname: "The Gold Diamonds", "Early Golden Top", "Drawing Top", "Drawing Diamond Top" Logo: On a brown smoke-like background, 2 gold diagonal lines start to draw a diamond. They curve and intersect at the top to draw the second and third diamonds. "ITC", in gold, appear one by one inside the diamonds. The text: I. T. C. E N T E R T A I N M E N T G R O U P in white, zooms in below the diamonds. FX/SFX: The diamonds drawing. The text zooming in. Cheesy Factor: The logo looks very crude. The I in the first diamond is off center. Limited animation, also. Music/Sounds: The end theme of the series. Availability: Extremely rare. Was seen so far only on the Windmills Of The Gods miniseries with the Dove Inc. logo. Scare Factor: Low. The end theme and the look of the logo may put some people a bit off. 7th Logo (1989-October 11, 1998) Nicknames: "The Gold Diamonds of Tame", "Golden Top", "Golden Diamonds", "Golden Diamond Top", "THUD!" Logo: On a black background, we see three gold interlocked ITC diamonds but with no letters in them, spinning around. As they spin around, the letters "ITC", in gold, slide out from the right of it one-by-one, and then shine as the diamonds stop spinning. Variants: * There is a rare opening variant that features "Presents" underneath. This was seen at the beginning of some ITC productions/releases. * The closing variant of this logo is bylineless. * There is a variation of the logo that appears at the end of some CBS Theatrical Films releases when they are shown on television, and many ITC releases from Avid Home Entertainment. In it, the logo is sped up, the three notes accompanying the ITC letters sliding out are not heard, the letters do not shine, there is no shimmering sound heard, "Entertainment Group" appears under "ITC" once the diamonds stop spinning, and a different "THUD!" sound is heard at the end. The music for that logo has also been heard on the standard version as well. * The late version of this logo, has a byline reading "A PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Company", which is seen on the Artisan DVDs of Sophie's Choice, The Boys from Brazil, and some TV airings of Volunteers. * On the 1996-98 USA Network series The Big Easy, the ITC Entertainment Group version is seen sped up (after the Grosso-Jacobon Productions logo) and cuts away to the PolyGram Filmed Entertainment logo (joined in progress; the final part of that logo is seen). * Sometimes it is superimposed on the ending credits. FX/SFX: The spinning diamonds and sliding letters; pretty good animation. Music/Sounds: A dramatic bass sounder, followed by a three-note synth tune that corresponds to the sliding out of the letters, a shimmering sound accompanying the letters shining, and a "THUD!" synth sound. Music/Sounds Variants: * A modified version of the tune can be found on Deadlock. * A low-pitched version of the tune can be found on the Scorpion Releasing DVD of Whispers (1990). * Sometimes the music for the ITC Entertainment Group logo can be heard over the standard logo. * There is a variant on the ITC Entertainment Group logo where the three notes play (although faster than usual) and a "THUD"/drum roll sound effect plays. This music variant is very rare. * Sometimes, the logo is silent, or it can have the opening theme of the movie play over it. * The mini-series People Like Us has a three-note harp theme. * The standard logo's music has been known to play over the ITC Entertainment Group logo. * Some TV movies and most episodes of Space: 1999 have the 1959 logo theme playing over the logo. Availability: Rare. This logo was the norm for plastering older ITC logos (including the ITC Film Distributors logos) on prints of its television and film library. In recent years, this has fallen to removal or plastering by other companies (under Carlton and Granada ownerships for example), but can still be seen on a number of titles released by IVE, Live Entertainment, or Artisan Entertainment, as well as older TV prints of ITC material. This appears on Artisan DVD releases of films such as The Last Unicorn, The Boys from Brazil, and The Eagle Has Landed among others. This logo was also spotted at the start and end of one episode of The Saint on Me-TV titled "The Best Laid Schemes". The "Entertainment Group" variant appears at the end of most ITC material released on DVD by Artisan Entertainment, such as The Eagle Has Landed and Jesus of Nazareth among many others. This logo is also intact on some ITC films released by different companies, such as the Columbia/TriStar DVD release and a Netflix print of Fear of a Black Hat, and the Scorpion Releasing DVDs of Whispers and Stepfather II: Make Way for Daddy!. This is also seen on ITC catalog releases by Avid Home Entertainment, where it usually (if not always) plasters earlier ITC logos or those of the films' distributors (e.g. Associated Film Distribution, 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Avco Embassy Pictures Corporation); on the Avid release of The Tamarind Seed, it plasters the Avco Embassy logo but retains the in-credit ITC opening logo. This logo also appeared at the beginning of the original UK release of The Brave Little Toaster, as well as other international VHS releases when the company held the distributing rights at the time. Recent prints plaster this with the ITV Global logo. Scare Factor: *Original Music: Low. The thud sound may be foreboding. *1959 Music: Low to medium. Category:Television Category:PolyGram Category:Nightmare Logos Category:NBCUniversal Category:Comcast Category:ITV Category:United Kingdom